[For those that are late to the party, I’m doing the 100 Happy Days challenge.]

Day 16: 1 March

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I visited a friend who is having a baby, which took me to Tung Chung after ages. On the train ride there, I caught glimpses of the open sea and this picture does not do the beauty of the vista justice. However, that was not my biggest happy for the day. At the friend’s, I held the one-month-old baby and discovered I still have it in me to do the rock-and-calm routine. But even that wasn’t my biggest happy. Proving how utterly superficial I am, my biggest happy came when I entered the CityGate outlet malls after a gap of seven years and bought a Calvin Klein dress that hid my tummy for a huge discount.

Day 17: 2 March

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The time I spent with the kids on the weekend was a blast as usual. This is Mimi on her very first tram ride. She wasn’t as into it as Benji, but it was still a thrill for me to introduce this quintessential form on Hong Kong transportation to her.

Day 18: 3 March

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Despite the happy moments, it had been a tough week and I was having a minor panic attack. Then MinCat came back from holiday and ordered me to calm down and I proceeded to vent to her and felt better. Then I ordered her to take a photo for this project and she did without being reminded also. How awesome is she?

Day 19:4 March

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While cutting out stuff for Benji for his school project from my fashion mag stash, I realised that the kids love sticking these glossy bits of paper. So I instituted the collage tradition. I cut out bits for them and then they stick them onto another piece of paper or they use my craft cutter to cut out shapes, and whee and hour goes by! And I get to browse the magazine while doing this.

Day 20: 6 March

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I needed to get a pee test done, and while I told my boss, I’d be out of office for a bit, I was tres happy to be no later than half an hour. A small thing, but I was pleased. It’s nice when things run like clockwork.

Day 21: 6 March

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Watching Happy videos. The Hong Kong one showcased the city so beautifully, but I must say that I enjoyed the Bangalore one more just for the exuberance of the dancers. Mumbai needs one…any takers?

Day 22: 7 March

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There’s always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in these posts. So, today I thought the happiest thing that was going to happen was my very yummy cup of lemon-honey-orange peel juice. I always feel happy when I manage to order something right.

Then an email popped into my inbox and I was informed that I had got the fellowship I applied for. I can tell you I almost died. This is the first time I can ever recall crying for joy. I cried when my kids were born but that was a mix of many emotions. This was pure underadulterated omgomgomgomg joy. I had put so much into the application, so many people had pulled together for me, and finally I had given up hope of getting this funding  though I was almost certain of getting a regular place. I certainly didn’t expect the result so soon so I was totally totally shocked. There are still admin procedures to go through and I will continue to be traumatised until it’s all completed, but this makes it all so much easier. Most of all, it’s a huge validation because it’s very very competitive.

My cup runneth over, you guys.